The Academic Study of the Talmud

In every interaction I have had with R. Dr. Pinchas Hayman, a professor of Talmud at Bar Ilan and the head of the Revadim project, he has come across as an extremely level-headed and realistic talmid hakham. However, when I read his article "Implications of Academic Approaches to the Study of the Babylonian Talmud for the Beliefs and Religious Attitudes of the Student", that impression did not come through. In this article, Dr. Hayman attempts to demonstrate that the "academic approach" to studying the Talmud is not only legitimate, it is the most authentic approach and the one used by traditional scholars throughout the ages. This is certainly a difficult thesis to prove, considering that almost everyone agrees that the "academic approach" is based on new, "scientific" methodologies. The...

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The Haredization of American Orthodoxy II

Here is a brief summary of R. Berel Wein's article (mentioned by J.I. in the comments section) attempting to explain the shift to the right in American Orthodoxy: Samuel Heilman posited four reasons for the "shift to the right" in American Orthodoxy: 1. Moral decline of general American society 2. Influence of Haredi teachers in Modern Orthodox schools 3. Decline of number of talented Modern Orthodox rabbis and teachers 4. Year (or two) of study in Israel R. Wein adds some more reasons: 1. The right has been able to offer the benefits of modernity (i.e. professional success) without risking undue exposure to American society 2. The right is more dynamic in addressing Orthodox needs (e.g. Hatzolah, Ohel, Mishkan, Aish HaTorah) 3. The right and the left are coming closer to each other, each...

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Organ Donation III

A rundown of positions on Brain Death from an article by R. Yitzchok Breitowitz titled "The Brain Death Controversy in Jewish Law": 1. As noted, Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendler has been the most vigorous advocate for the halachic acceptability of brain death criteria. In his capacity as chairman of the RCA's Biomedical Ethics Committee, Rabbi Tendler spearheaded the preparation of a health-care proxy form that, among other innovations, would authorize the removal of vital organs from a respirator dependent, brain death patient for transplantation purposes. Although the form was approved by the RCA's central administration, its provisions on brain death were opposed by a majority of the RCA's own Vaad Halacha (Rabbis Rivkin, Schachter, Wagner and Willig). 2. The Israeli Chief Rabbinate Council, in...

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Organ Donation II

From a 1989 article by R. Ahron Soloveichik titled "Death According to the Halacha": A person who becomes devoid of respiration but who still has cardiac activity is considered semi-alive and semi-dead. Consequently, if someone will kill him, he will be considered a murderer. Hence, it is absolutely forbidden (yehareg ve-al ya'avor) to cut out the heart of that person even though the removal of the heart of the donor is indispensable to the preservation of the life of the donee... It is obvious that the so-called "Harvard Criteria" do not conform to halacha... It is incumbent upon all those who have ethical sensitivity to protest against those who are trying to implement the Harvard criteria through a heart or liver transplant because of brotherhood and mercy. I have the greatest respect...

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The Haredization of American Orthodoxy

Chaim Waxman has an interesting article in the most recent Edah Journal. Below are excerpts in which he offers explanations and descriptions about the apparent "haredization" of the Orthodox Community. Interesting thoughts. (Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this author is the son-in-law of R. David Lifschitz.) Some find it ironic that many of the new Orthodox communities, which were developed by Modern Orthodox Jews and reflected Modern Orthodox norms and values, are now abandoning many of those norms and are becoming much more haredi. In part, this is a result of the fact that, with Orthodox communal development, increasing numbers of haredim feel free to move there. This pattern manifests itself in a range of Orthodox communities, such as Boro Park and Flatbush, in Brooklyn,...

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Torah and Taharah

In a comment, Kochav wrote: Does the learning of Torah (just learning - even if it's Zevachim and Keilim) make one a better person/mentsch? If not, then our question is how can we teach morals to these intellectuals.If one has yiras shamayim then learning Torah will further purify your soul. However, if one lacks a fear of God and does not work on one's midos nor actively attempt to fix one's behavioral and attitudinal problems, then Torah cannot serve to purify. Such a person is like one who immerses in a mikvah while holding an (impure) insect in his hand (tovel ve-sheretz be-yado - see how much more elegant Hebrew is than Englis...

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The Limits of Orthodox Theology III

Menachem Kellner reviews Marc Shapiro's book. I have not yet had a chance to read the review but I'm sure, based on Kellner's hazakah, that it is correct on almost every minor point but entirely wrong on the big picture. UPDATE: Some first thoughts. Kellner was actually wrong on some minor points as well. Kellner writes: Pre-emancipation Judaism was an unselfconscious amalgam of religion and what came, in the nineteenth century, to be called nationality. With very few exceptions (the anusim of Iberia being the most prominent example), Jewish authorities never had to define who a Jew was, since the matter was clear, both to the Jews and to the Gentiles... In that context [of the Emancipation], Rambam's Thirteen Principles, wholly ignored by poseqim since their publication and ignored by...

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Organ Donation

I've been asked more than once to discuss organ donation. This isn't the post in which I will. But I do want to point out the long list of rabbis that the Halachic Organ Donor Society. Three interesting things to note: Not one member of the RCA's halacha committee is on the list and at least one person on the list is a JTS graduate and the associate rabbi of a Conservative synagogue. Also, no Tendlers are on the list. Can anyone explain th...

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Flatbush Eruv

In case anyone is dying to know my thoughts on the controversial Flatbush Eruv that was officially unveiled a few weeks ago, this website adequately expresses my view. If you held of the old Flatbush Eruv (put up by the Va'ad ha-Rabbanim decades ago) then the new one just adds some hiddurim. If you did not hold of the old eruv then nothing has changed. This pamphlet is a basic rebuttal of a pro-eruv booklet that is circulati...

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New York Water

This teshuvah from R. Hershel Schachter on the New York water issue was just passed along to me. UPDATE: The teshuvah has been taken down upon request from its source. A new version with a somewhat different conclusion is expected short...

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Morality and Brisk

In an article by R. Shalom Carmy cited in the previous two posts, he quotes a former student who wrote to him the following: But in the halakhic world of Brisk does a voice cry out, saying "An Arab too is a gavra, a person"? Do all of these glib distinctions between subject and object teach their discoverers that the God who created one man cannot allow any men to be objects?Reb Yudel suggests, in the comments sections to the preceding post, that we try to give our answers to this question. My answer is the same as that to the question of how the original Briskers could be opposed to mussar. We simply rarely see today true yiras shamayim. This, I believe, is the biggest of our communities' problems. If we could somehow solve this then all of the other problems would disappear in short order. R....

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Morality and Halakhah II

Another gem from the previously mentioned article by R. Shalom Carmy: In recent years we often hear from those who insist the old anti-­Semitic propaganda had it right - that the teachings of the Torah about Gentiles are, God forbid, such as would repel those Jews and non-Jews who take common "perennial" morality seriously. The Rabbinic establishment and those it represents have more or less gotten around to condemning Kahane, but somehow, without questioning their sincerity, we sense that something is missing. What is missing is the passion. Earnest, honorable, respectable teachers of Torah, who would self-assuredly and justifiedly snort at the suggestion that the prohibition of blowing shofar (or, for that matter, performing on the organ) on Shabbat is "only" rabbinic, become strangely...

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Who is a Gadol?

I came across an online article by R. Shalom Carmy: "Who Speaks for Torah - And How?" (Religious Zionism, 1989). R. Carmy addresses a number of issues in that article, one of which is Rabbinic Authority. In the course of discussing how to determine who is a gadol and if such an evaluation is possible, he makes the following insightful comments: Now if obtaining a centralized Torah authority is essential and urgent, the rational procedure would be to focus our attention on determining who of the possible candidates for leadership is indeed the most worthy - and may the greatest Gadol win! This rational approach is not likely to yield decisive results. More­over it is sure to reinforce two of the least attractive vices of contemporary Orthodox discourse: 1) The Loud Mouth: People lauding...

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The Bialystoker Controversy III

Updating readers on The Bialystoker Controversy... I sat next to the rabbi of the Bialystoker Synagogue at a wedding a few weeks ago. I brought up the controversy in which he was involved and told him my take on the issue. To remind you, this is what I posted a few weeks ago: He could have stopped here and said that a child until the age of nine or ten has a status of a holeh she-ein bo sakanah (a non-critical sick person - see Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 276:1, 328:17; Shemirat Shabbat Ke-Hilkhatah, ch. 37 par. 2 vol. 1 p. 495) and, if such a child is hysterical one may violate a rabbinic prohibition on his behalf. Since, if a child can walk on his own the prohibition to carry him is only of rabbinic origin, and if a child is hysterical he has a status of a holeh she-ein bo sakanah for whom...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs VII

Shaya, one of our readers, has put together an excellent collection of sources on this subje...

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Interfaith Dialogue IV

Rabbi Shalom Carmy writes to the editor of The Commentator about R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik's attitude towards Christianity, including entering churches and teaching Torah to Christians. Like everything this eminent scholar writes, hapokh bah ve-hapokh bah for there is much in between the lin...

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Mussar Sayings

I came across a short list of sayings from some of the most influential of the ba'alei ha-mussar (I almost wrote the greatest of the ba'alei ha-mussar, but the nature of such people is that the greatest were probably anonymous and lost to history). Rather than copy the entire page here, I picked only two quotes. Go there for more: "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight, and he wants to sleep well that night too." - Rabbi Yosef Yozel Horwitz, Alter of Novarodok Rav Itzele (Peterburger) Blazer, a disciple of Rabbi Israel Salanter, says that there are two books in heaven, one of sins where you gave a sigh when you sinned and one when you didn't, and the difference in punishment between them is greater than the distance between heaven and ear...

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Homosexuality in Halakhah V

I have been meaning to blog R. Chaim Rapoport's excellent book Judaism and Homosexuality: An Authentic Orthodox View. The author is a prominent rabbi in London who, though a Lubavitcher hasid, tends to a mainstream synagogue and serves on the Chief Rabbi's cabinet. The author is clearly an expert in halakhah and a master bibliographer. Additionally, he has written his book with his audience in mind, keeping the text to more general matters and leaving the complex halakhic issues for lengthy endnotes. R. Rapoport's book is sure to make waves. He strongly argues for a number of non-mainstream views that have never before been put forth by such a traditional voice. He starts off his book by laying down the prohibition against homosexuality. He states that not only are homosexual relations but...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs VI

A letter by R. Dovid Ribiat, author of The 39 Melochos, has been posted to the web in which he argues that wigs from India are permissible according to R. Moshe Feinstein. UPDATE: I removed the link to R. Ribiat's lett...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs V (and Water In New York)

The most recent issue of Avodah has two interesting posts about the wig controversy. R. Elazar M. Teitz explains why he believes there is no avodah zarah issue with the hair from India. R. Seth Mandel does as well, and describes his efforts in the past to understand the production process of wigs. As a bonus, R. Mandel gives us an inside look at the OU's treatment of the alleged bug infestation of the New York City water supp...

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New Book: Letter To A Philosophical Dropout From Orthodoxy

I stumbled across this book: Forgive Us, Father-in-Law, For We Know Not What To Think: Letter To A Philosophical Dropout From Orthodoxy by Rabbi Shalom Carmy This looks very interesting. A related message board is here, although it has had very little action. I hope to report back after I read the bo...

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Principles of Faith

R. Hayim Soloveitchik's strong stance on the denial of a principle of faith is well known through the writings of R. Elhanan Wasserman. The following is a fascinating confirmation that I found in Making of a Godol (p. 538 - emphasis added): The closest that R' Hayyim came to coercion according to Toras Hayim was the explanation that he gave of Eliyahu haNavi's suggestion to the idol worshippers who were "hobbling between two opinions", to wit, "If G-d be the L-rd, follow Him; and if Ba'al, follow him." R' Hayyim asked how the Prophet could possibly suggest they worship Ba'al, and he answered that in principles of faith, the denial of even one tenet makes one's acceptance of all the rest worthless. Therefore, if Eliyahu's listeners had a slight tendency to Ba'al, their worship of G-d became...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs IV

After a little investigation we determined that my wife's nice wig contains only European hair - a combination of spending a lot of money (a gift from my mother-in-law) and my wife preferring a curly wig. All is well in my house tonig...

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Understanding the Patriarchs

R. Aharon Lichtenstein on how to relate to the apparent sins of our great forefathers: However, although we cannot deny these sins, we must view them in light of Chazal’s overall attitude toward these personalities. Generally, Chazal and the Rishonim relate to Moshe with obvious reverence... Chazal exhibit the same respect and reverence for other gedolei Yisrael, as well, depicting them as giants of character and deed. We must relate to these gedolim in the same manner as Chazal. Just as we have a tradition of Halakha, so too do we have a tradition regarding these matters. Just as we do not deviate even one iotafrom Chazal’s specifications regarding the four species on Sukkot, for example, so we may never stray from their approach towards the personality of King David. We must view Moshe,...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs III

Frumteens has an interesting summary of the halakhic history of this question. AishDas has a copy of a good newspaper article on the subject (I, II, II...

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Administrative Message

You may have noticed that for the past few days I've just been posting long quotes with a few interspersed comments. I haven't had the time to put together new material so I'm just putting up interesting things from others. I will IY"H find some time soon to blog another sug...

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Some Tough Questions for Modern Orthodoxy

Some insights and tough questions for serious Modern Orthodox people, back from when there was a push to refer to the group as Centrist Orthodox. Unfortunately, this is the kind of self-criticism that may be cathartic but is entirely ignored and unproductive. R. Yitzchok [Irving] Breitowitz, "A Symposium on Divided and Distinguished Worlds" in Tradition 26:2 (1992), pp. 20-21: "[L]et us learn to cultivate within ourselves the quality of heshbon hanefesh instead of seeking fault in others. Centrist Orthodoxy must ask itself some hard questions. Do we strive for our children to become talmide hakhamim? Do we consider the quality of Jewish education to be at least as important as secular? Is it true, as oft stated, that on the whole Centrist Orthodoxy produces individuals who are committed...

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Post-modern Objections to Academic Jewish Studies

R. Walter Wurzburger, "Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik as Posek of Post-Modern Orthodoxy" in Tradition (1994:1), p. 7 The Rav's objection to the employment of modern historic and textual scholarship to ascertain the meaning of halakha reflects not naive traditionalism but highly sophisticated post-modern critical thought. He insists that halakha operate with its own unique canons of interpretation. According to R. Soloveitchik, scientific methods are appropriate only for the explanation of natural phenomena but have no place in the quest for the understanding of the normative and cognitive concepts of halakha, which imposes its own a priori categories, which differ from those appropriate in the realm of science. It is for this reason that the Rav completely ignores Bible criticism and eschews...

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Studying Heresy

There is a passage in R. Ahron Soloveitchik's Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind (pp. 45-47) regarding the study of biblical criticism and other modern heresies. Because it is a long passage, I will break it up with short comments. The initial story about R. Moshe Soloveitchik: A professor who taught Bible in a college once came to my father [R. Moshe Soloveitchik], of blessed memory, to ask whether the opinions of Bible critics, with his personal refutation, of course, could be source material. My father said, "No." Then my father told me to bring the Rif on Sanhedrin (Perek Cheilek). He opened to the Rif's commentary on the statement "One who reads books of foreign subject matter has no portion in the World to Come." The Rif explains "foreign subject matter" to include commentaries...

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Civil Rights and the Dignity of Man

Also from R. Ahron Soloveichik's Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind (p. 61): From the standpoint of the Torah, there can be no distinction between one human being and another on the basis of race or color. Any discrimination shown to a human being on account of the color of his or her skin constitutes loathsome barbarity. It must be conceded that the Torah recognizes a distinction between a Jew and a non-Jew. This distinction, however, is not based upon race, origin, or color, but rather upon k'dushah, the holiness endowed by having been given and having accepted the Torah. Furthermore, the distinction between Jew and non-Jew does not involve any concept of inferiority but is based primarily upon the unique and special burdens that are incumbent upon the Jews.I have another good quote...

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Hallel on Yom Ha-Atzma'ut

I know this is belated, but I thought readers would find this interesting. There are many views on this subject, but R. Ahron Soloveichik's is one that tends to get overlooked. The following is from his book Logic of the Heart, Logic of the Mind: Before turning to the halachic questions raised by Yom Haatzma'ut, we must ask whether 5 Iyar, the day on which the independence of Israel was declared, is of more significance than any other day in the course of our survival in the War of Independence. I think it is... (p. 188) There is no doubt that Hallel cannot be recited with a blessing today. (p. 191) The recitation of Hallel is obligatory only when the redemption affects the Jewish nation in its entirety, and this will be realized only in Yemos Hamoshiach. (p. 196)In other words, Hallel...

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Judgement

Good questions from Dr. Haym Soloveitchik's article "Religious Law and Change": When is an unreflecting faith "religiosity," and when is it philistinism? When is cowering before a hideous death simply a failure of nerve, and when does it betoken a weakness of the spirit? When is a series of breaches - just that, and when does it signify erosion? When does a mute cry for help arise from an inability to cope, and when from a lack of will to cope? When is a refusal to live life as freely and fully as sanctioned by the law a mark of religious intuition, and when is it a misplaced, foolish piety?How one views contemporary reality is (obviously) reflected in how one reacts to such phenomena, and whether one shows sympathy or revulsi...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs II

I found a responsum on the subject of wigs made in India from, surprisingly, a number of years ago. R. Moshe Shternbuch has a long discussion of the various issue in his Teshuvos ve-Hanhagos vol. 2 no. 414 (consider that volume 4 was recently published, so this is an old teshuvah). He concludes that such wigs are assur and that one might not even be able to buy a different type of wig from someone who sells such wigs from India (tofes es damav etc.). Importantly, he ends by saying that this matter depends entirely on the reality at the time and must be reviewed constantly to determine the actual production flow of wigs and whether it has chang...

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The Democratization of Halakhah

House of Hock very graciously mentioned this blog in a post, and I return the favor. I appreciate both the praise and the publicity, but must comment on something I found troubling in their post. In a democracy, every citizen has a vote. Judaism is not a democracy. Not everyone has a vote over what is the halakhah and what is not. There is certainly a hierarchy, in which the more knowledgeable have more of a say while the less learned have less of a voice. It is, in my opinion, quite unfortunate that semi-literate people do not always recognize their lack of learning. I considered myself privileged to recognize how little I know in comparison to some of the rabbis living today. What scares me, though, is that compared to a whole lot of people I know, I am very learned. I find it laughable...

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Morality and Halakhah

A common theme in R. Aharon Lichtenstein's lectures and essays is that of morality and halakhah. There are many different paths to investigate in the commonalities and divergences between the two, including whether there can be divergences. R. Lichtenstein takes an approach with which I am comfortable, but that I acknowledge is only one of many possible Torah views. In a particularly trenchant lecture that was adapted into an essay in In His Faith, R. Lichtenstein deals with the problems involved with teaching morality as a separate subject to students. It is quite possible that the students will use the philosophical tools of morality and find certain problems with Judaism based on their evaluations of what is and is not moral. R. Lichtenstein, honest scholar the he is, admits that this...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs

I first heard about this a month or two ago. It seems that there are idolatrous religions in the Far East in which one ritual is the cutting off and donation of hair to their false gods. This hair is then sold for use in wigs that are marketed throughout the world. If it turns out, as many are claiming, that these wigs are sold in the Orthodox sheitel market, then I believe that we have a serious problem. To my understanding, such wigs fall under the category of takroves avodah zarah and are prohibited to be used or even sold. Even the nullification of the hair's sanctity by those who sell these wigs to the general public, if that is a nullification, does not remove the prohibition (see Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 139:1-2). This is not a humrah. This is plain vanilla halakhah. Of course,...

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Kol Ishah III

(continued from here) V. Misexplaining Ervah R. Berman, in elaborating on the Franco-German position that he claimed to have found, explained that one may not recite keri'as Shema while listening to a woman sing because a woman's voice is distracting. "[T]he central concern with hearing a woman's voice is not its intrinsic sensuousness, but the purely functional concern that it might distract a man from his concentration on prayer or study" (p. 48). This is quite astounding. A woman's voice is distracting to a man, R. Berman claims, but that has nothing to do with its sensuousness. If so, then why is a woman's voice more distracting than a man's voice or even someone loudly clapping? Why would the Gemara call it ervah if it did not have some sort of sexually related meaning? This claim,...

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Kol Ishah II

I came across a good online essay by R. Howard Jachter about the practical aspects of kol ishah in contemporary society. Most of the essay is a discussion of contemporary halakhah, but he concludes with the following important statement: Observance of the Kol Isha prohibition is quite challenging for us as this prohibition runs counter to the prevailing Western culture. In today’s promiscuous society where outrageous behavior is deemed acceptable, a woman’s singing voice appears innocuous. Moreover, the general culture views this prohibition offensive and demeaning to women. We are challenged to hold firm to our beliefs against the flow of the general cultural tide. This is one of the issues that we must part company with the rest of society, just as Avraham Avinu and Yitzchak Avinu parted...

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Kol Ishah

It is generally understood that a man is not allowed to hear a woman's singing voice. Exactly when this applies - only while she is in view or even otherwise, only live or even recorded, etc. - is a complicated matter of dispute that everyone should resolve with their own rabbis. I will not address these important practical topics. Instead, I will critique an essay that, I believe, is damaging and entirely mistaken. R. Saul Berman wrote an important article regarding the propriety of men listening to a woman sing that was published under the title "Kol 'Isha" in The Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Memorial Volume. I believe the article to be entirely mistaken and based on a number of scholarly faults. An excellent critique of this article was published by R. Yehuda Henkin in his Equality Lost under...

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Charitable Reading

Texts do not stand on their own. Because no written work can ever be entirely clear, and the ones that come close are of an extremely burdensome length, texts require interpretation. A reader must work on understanding a text and resolving any difficulties that arise. Some written works are incorrect. Other times, however, the writer was simply unclear or left out important statements for various reasons that we may never know. Assuming that the author was a master scholar with full command of logic and all relevant texts, and working based on this assumption to decipher the author's full theory, is called giving the text a "Charitable Reading."* The question then arises, how much effort must a reader make before concluding that the text is in error? (An additional question is, how far beyond...

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Smoking in Halakhah

[Thanks to Protocols, who in turn thanks The Town Crier, for bringing this to my attention.] A new book has been published, titled Hayim le-Lo Ishun Al Pi ha-Torah by R. Yehezkel Ishayek of Bnei Brak, in which the author argues that smoking is absolutely prohibited. The Jerusalem Post summarizes some of his arguments: Preserving one's health is an important positive commandment; smoking in public involves desecration of God's name by acting counter to the rulings of the Hafetz Haim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan) and many other greats who came out against smoking; the late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein declared that smokers who expose others to their smoke must compensate them financially for the damage they cause; that smokers are a bad example to youth; and that saving people from smoking may be a...

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Humrah Society II

Is it permissible to be stricter than one's parents or grandparents on halakhic matters? The Gemara in Gittin (5b) records a suggested change in the procedure of writing a get that was rejected so as not to cast aspersions on the gittin of earlier generations. Perhaps here, too, we may not be strict so as not to cast aspersions on previous generations. The Terumas ha-Deshen (teshuvos, no. 232) discussed the applicability of this concept to other cases. For example, the Gemara (Gittin 85b) tells us that Rava instituted a change in the standard language of a get. Similarly, in medieval France, Rabbenu Tam instituted a further change in the language of a get. Did these changes not cast aspersions on the gittin of previous generations? The Terumas ha-Deshen distinguishes that, in the original...

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